Excellent news. Thomas Hamill, the American Halliburton employee taken hostage and shown on Arab tv a few weeks ago, escaped his captors and ran to the safety of a military convoy yesterday. He is reported to be physically well, with a gunshot wound to the arm that probably occurred during his capture.

Congrats to Jesse of Pandagon who has gotten a job blogging for Ohio Senatorial Candidate Jerry Springer.

Oliver of Liquid List has an analysis of the Colorado redistricting case. He reminds us not to lose sight of the importance of our courts.

David Neiwert of Orcinus writes on Iraqi prisoners and war crimes.

Skippy reports on a New York Times poll that is not favorable to Bush.

It cost $31 million to build. It will open next week with an official commemoration ceremony. It is designed to hold 100 inmates for several years--or permanently. Say hello to Camp 5 at Guantanamo Bay ....the latest and greatest in detention camps.

John Nichol, an RAF navigator in Gulf War I, was shot down over Iraq and paraded on tv. Here is his reaction to the photos of Iraqi prisoners allegedly abused at Abu Ghraib prison. He begins:

They are the images I thought I would never have to see again, sickening pictures of Iraqi prisoners, naked, tortured and humiliated. Surely liberation from Saddam Hussein's brutal, evil regime had seen an end to all of that? Yet here they are, photographs of American soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib's dungeon and of British servicemen brutalising captives in Basra.

They have sent shock waves around the world and shivers down my spine. During the Gulf war in 1991, I was shot down over Iraq, taken prisoner, tortured, humiliated and paraded on TV in pictures that provided an enduring image of that war. Now, perhaps, these horrific new pictures from Iraq will be the lasting image of so-called liberation.

Update: Amnesty International has reports of torture as well.

While we were out of town, several California countines banned touch screen voting. Jeanne at Body and Soul has a good recap of the issue and news and blog coverage.

Don't miss this new New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh on the sadistic torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraid prison:

A fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for public release, was completed in late February. Its conclusions about the institutional failures of the Army prison system were devastating. Specifically, Taguba found that between October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances of “sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” at Abu Ghraib. This systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company, and also by members of the American intelligence community. (The 372nd was attached to the 320th M.P. Battalion, which reported to Karpinski’s brigade headquarters.) Taguba’s report listed some of the wrongdoing:

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

The report says there are photos and videos to back up the claims:

Via Political Wire : former Democratic presidential nomination contender Howard Dean may get his own cable talk show--but not about politics.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter was attacked last night while jogging.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter was assaulted by two men Friday night and taken to a hospital with minor injuries, a court spokeswoman said. The incident occurred while he was jogging about 9 p.m. Friday, said Kathy Arberg, a court spokeswoman. Law enforcement sources told CNN the incident occurred near the Potomac River waterfront in southwest Washington, not far from Souter's home. Arberg said that the motive was not robbery, but law enforcement sources said it appeared to be a random attack.

The attackers were reportedly young men. Why would they randomly attack an adult male jogger at 9:00 pm except to rob him? For kicks? Strange. In any event, our best wishes to Justice Souter for a speedy recovery.

by TChris

TalkLeft has written (here, here, here) about the dangerous theory the government is pursuing in its prosecution of computer scientist Sami Al-Hussayen for providing "material support" to terrorists in the form of his "expert guidance or assistance." In its opening statement, the government argued that Hussayen had helped maintain a website that "could eventually access 20 other sites with ties to radical organizations."

Jacob Sullum sees the problem:

Talk about guilt by association. Given the interconnected nature of the World Wide Web (they don't call it a "web" for nothing), just about any site with hyperlinks "could eventually access" something sinister.

The government wants to hold Hussayen responsible for four fatwas that appeared on a website he helped maintain. Hussayen says that thousands of posts were made to the website and that he didn't agree with the fatwas. Sullum provides a useful summation of the evidence against Hussayen and of the implications of the government's interpretation of the Patriot Act in Hussayen's case.

Speaking of the Patriot Act, Earl Ofari Hutchinson advises John Kerry to stop "treading gingerly" and to become a vocal opponent of its extension. It's good advice.

by TChris

"Out of step" doesn't quite do justice to Justice Scalia's thinking about the Constitution. He's made it clear that he doesn't believe abortion is constitutionally protected, and he likes to complain that there's no constitutional "right to homosexual sodomy." But those are controversial issues, and Justice Scalia seems to thrive on controversy.

More frightening is Justice Scalia's belief that criminal defendants are not entitled to a lawyer unless they can afford to hire one. Sorry Mr. Gideon, you'll have to do the best you can on your own.

by TChris

Owners of licenses to broadcast on the public airwaves are supposed to serve the public interest. The Sinclair stations that censored Nightline did not serve the public interest. It's one thing for Sinclair to slant its news coverage in favor of the Bush administration; preventing viewers from seeing a well-respected news program is another. The first amendment protects expression of opinions; it disfavors suppression of information. The public interest is served by more information, not less.

The FCC tells you to write to your local station if you want to complain about its performance as a custodian of the public airwaves. Stations are supposed to keep your letters and the FCC is supposed to consider them when it decides whether to renew the station's license.

The FCC isn't going to yank Sinclair's license, but people who were denied the opportunity to watch Nightline should force Sinclair to retain a fat file of complaint letters for the FCC's review. The letter sent by Free Press says it all.

by TChris

Swapping a Twinkie for a bologna sandwich has become more burdensome for students in the Sharyland (Texas) School District after a 17 year old shared his marijuana brownies with friends. Vexed school administrators hit upon a fool-proof plan to make sure nothing like this can ever happen again: no more food sharing without the school's permission.

Right.

And on those rare occasions when a student bothers to ask permission, what criteria will the food police apply? Just say no ... to brownies? Baked goods? A banana might seem safe, but what if it's injected with LSD?